Badger or Groundhog? (or something else)

[mxpres]

Do you have wildlife protectors,,fish and game,or game wardens,they may want to know about this,i have saw groundhogs,killed groundhogs for 50 years and never saw anything like that,mange don,t work that fast,and it looks like it still has hair on its tail

 

[dd1026]

im sure i could call the NJ Div of F&W and see what they have to say. I might even email them the pic... i would have also though that mange would take longer than a couple days to do that..

of course, this is "assuming" its the same one that was there before.. i have attached the other GH pic below (taken about a week ago)...

 

[Imp]

The second pix looks like there is a balding spot on its back???
I did a quick google search and came up emptyhanded. I just don't know.

Imp/Russ

 

[dd1026]

i noticed that too, but it looked the same about 3 days ago when i last saw it (with fur, at least).. thats a lot of scratching off its fur in a couple days...


BTW, thanks everyone for their thoughts..

 

[Imp]

Not exactly related, but I have a mostly bald cat living on my deck for the past few months. It belongs to a neighbor, who basically put it out in the garage when they started having kids, about 5 years ago. The cat is very long haired and just completely matted up, completely covered 1/2 to 1 inch thick solid mat, covering whole body. So a couple weeks ago I started cutting, now its bald from the neck to the tail. So ugly!!! Won't let me touch the tail. LOL!

Imp- Are you sure you haven't been anywhere in the backyard with scissors?

 

[dd1026]

well, we have just found out it is definitely NOT the same groundhog. We saw Molly (the one WITH fur, from my second pic) outside the den about an hour ago... obviously the bald one is a different GH...

anyone think that possibly it is simply an adoescent that doesnt have its fur yet? (i know, sounds far-fetched).. they are obviously sharing the same den...

 

[Imp]

OK now I know more about groundhogs than I ever wanted to know. It's the right time for the boys to go courting the girls. He might be gone soon. Could be babies in your future.
Maybe he is just bald genetically. You might have the next great pet living in your yard, the hypoallergenic groundhog.

Imp- or maybe he just got a cool new haircut to impress Molly.

 

[Cetawin]

groundhog. You do not have Badgers in NJ or even in that area. Badgers are black and white to see them but they have silver and under fur of browns, 10 times that size and would have shown you a mouth full of teeth while you were trying to take that picture, they are aggressive, vicious and carnivores.

This is a badger pelt befor it is being cut to make a bow quiver

these are the claws attached to the critter

 

[dd1026]

Imp - heh, yeah, would be cool if it were not sickly.. its still cute.. it certainly moved quickly when i came outside and leaned over thedeck to look at it...

Cetawin, I didnt think it was a badger, but since I had never seen a groundhog sans fur, it was just very odd looking.. we have a few GH's that hang out in our yard and graze and it threw me to see that...

oh, and for reference, I was on my deck taking that picture with the zoom on..

and you mean teeth like this:

 

[mmtillman]

My hubby looked at that picture and said he thought it looked like a Tazmanian Devil........